Jet fuel spill contained

Tuesday

Jun 3, 2014 at 5:42 PMJun 3, 2014 at 5:42 PM

By Sam Perkinssperkins@wickedlocal.com

On Saturday night, a $40 million Gulfstream twin-jet aircraft crashed into the banks up the Shawsheen River while attempting to take off from Hanscom AFB, exploding into flames upon impact and killing all seven people on board.As the Bedford Fire Department rushed to the seen to battle the blaze, a contingent of the departmentís firefighters rushed away from the accident, trying to contain the estimated 15,000 gallons of jet fuel that the plane was carrying, now flowing into the tributary.By all accounts, they succeeded."The Bedford Fire Department did a great job of putting booms in the river, stopping the fuel from making it further down the river," said Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesman Ed Coletta. "They got there early, which really helped to stem the flow of fuel further downstream."According to the DEP, firefighters were able to beat the fuel downstream, setting up a boom Ė a large, net-like aperture, which absorbs oil off the waterís surface."Within an hour, we had a boom in the water across the Shawsheen River by Sun Valley Subs on Summer Street," said Bedford Fire Lt. Mark Sullivan."When the crash happened, right away we got the booms out," said Bedford Department of Public Works Director Roy Sorenson.After setting up the initial boom, which Sullivan described as "like a giant diaper that absorbs fuel," the Fire Department and DPW, along with Clean Harbors, a hazardous waste disposal company hired by MassPort, deployed several more booms."It didnít appear any runoff had made it down that far so we were pretty confident that we had at least caught it, and then we started working our way back to the actual crash site," said Sullivan."We shut the wells down right away, as a precautionary measure," Sorenson said. "Our wells, in general, are only about 20 percent of the Bedford water supply; the other 80 percent comes from the MWRA and the wells are just supplemental."According to Sorenson and Town Manager Rick Reed, the Bedford water supply remains completely safe for use, as it is coming solely from MWRA pumps outside of town.Working back from the Summer Street bridge, cleanup crews initially faced an onslaught of oil and fuel. Working from Saturday night straight through until Sunday to change the booms and oil-absorbent pads regularly, according to Coletta, the flow of fuel is down to a trickle, if that."Thereís a lot less, if much at all, compared to that overnight that first night," said Coletta.With the burned-out remains of the plane still sitting in the river bed at the time of publication, the total contamination and the time it will take for a complete cleanup remains unknown."At least a week," estimated Coletta.Sorenson is optimistic the wells will not be contaminated."The wells themselves should be OK because they are in deep aquifers, but we shut them down right away as a precautionary measure. After the cleanup, we will test the wells multiple times to make sure there is no contamination," he said.As for the Shawsheen River, Coletta cautioned residents and their pets to stay out of the Shawsheen south of Summer Street, but was optimistic that the rest of the waterway would remain uncontaminated and clean."Right now we havenít seen any fuel or contamination [past the Summer Street area] and the river seems to be clean past that area," said Coletta."Further downstream past Summer Ave is where there last booms are right now and they havenít seen anything residual right now," added Sorenson. "I would say once the process is complete, it is going to be fine for wildlife, people, whatever it might be."According to Sorenson, the booms will remain in place and the river cleanup will continue long after the wreckage has been removed, until the waterway and the soil test clean of any contaminants.Follow Sam Perkins and the Bedford Minuteman on Twitter at @bedfordminutema.